Sign in toMLive

Michigan

Change Region

comments

Check out the inside of GVSU’s new $65 million Mary Idema Pew library

Matthew McCormick, a music education major at Grand Valley State University, spends his afternoon by the rooftop garden in the new Mary Idema Pew Library on Wednesday, July 10, 2013.
(Lauren Petracca | MLive.com)

ALLENDALE, MI - As administrators at Grand Valley State University began planning for a new library five years ago, they envisioned a space where students could not only check out books and perform research, but also collaborate on projects and hold group study sessions.

Today, as the university hosted a tour of the recently completed Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons, administrators believe their plans have come to fruition.

The library, a $65 million project, is flush with student meeting rooms, collaborative work spaces – complete with whiteboards and moveable furniture – and a large tutoring lab where students can receive help with writing and research. All of which, for the most part, were non-existent at the university’s former library, which was built in the 1960s when GVSU was a fraction of its current size.

“What we hoped we’ve accomplished is a very, very fresh way to think about providing optimized study environments for students, and we like to think we’ve broken the norm,” said Lee Van Orsdel, dean of university libraries.

Named after the wife of Robert C. Pew II, who was among Grand Valley's founders and an early board member, the library officially opened late last month. On Wednesday, students taking summer courses could be seen studying throughout the five-story building, which offers triple the seating of Zumberge Library.

“It’s a lot easier to study with all the open spaces and whiteboards,” said Austin Stebbins, a biomedical sciences junior who along with his brother, Nick, was studying in a wing of the library known as an “Innovation Zone.”

The room features tables and chairs designed to be easily reconfigured to accommodate group study sessions. Two large whiteboard were built into the wall of an enclave at one edge of the room.

Van Orsdel said the room was designed to fit the type of study space student’s need in today’s academic environment, where group work is often emphasized.

“Employers are looking for students who can speak and make decisions and work in teams and articulate ideas,” she said. “These spaces and the ones downstairs are designed to give them practice doing that very thing. This is what the modern work environment is moving toward.”

The Mary Idema Pew library is the second major building project the university has completed in recent months. In April, Grand Valley unveiled the new $42 million Seidman College of Business building in downtown Grand Rapids.

More than $20 million of the new library's $65 million price tag came through donations, with the lead gift coming from Robert C. Pew II, a longtime donor to Grand Valley who died in December at the age of 89. GVSU declined to give the amount of Pew’s gift.

The university paid for the remaining $45 million by selling $23 million in bonds, with the rest coming from its campus development fund, administrators said. They noted that no tuition dollars were used to pay for the project.

The building was designed with energy efficiency in mind, and administrators say they will attempt to achieve the highest LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – designation possible.

James Moyer, associate vice president for facilities planning, wasn’t immediately able to say how much savings would be generated from the energy efficiency measures. But he did say the building would use “half the energy” it would have used “if we applied usual and customary construction methods.”

“So we basically cut our long term operating cost in half for this particular building,” said Moyer, who was among those leading Wednesday’s tour.

In addition to providing ample space for collaboration and group projects, the library also features plenty of quiet space, group meeting rooms that can be reserved online and a gas powered fireplace that one administrator said was the “longest in Michigan.”

It also features a rooftop terrace, where students can relax, socialize or study while overlooking the university’s Allendale campus.

“It was that old fashion feel – I didn’t really feel comfortable,” Matthew McCormick, a music education junior said of the old library as he checked out the view from the Mary Idema Pew library terrace. “This is like light years in change.”